


Bleeding

by LaBelleetlaloup



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Airbending & Airbenders, Earthbending & Earthbenders, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Menstruation, Minor Sokka/Suki, POV Katara, Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-09
Updated: 2017-02-09
Packaged: 2018-09-22 23:17:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9629483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaBelleetlaloup/pseuds/LaBelleetlaloup
Summary: Katara, Toph, and Suki are all on the same cycle and the first morning is a little rough





	

**Author's Note:**

> Self indulgence because I am bleeding.

Katara woke up with the sickening realization that she was bleeding the morning after she and Zuko returned from hunting down her mother’s killer. Well, wasn’t this just wonderful? Katara rearranged her sarashi so that she hopefully would not have to wash blood out of her leggings. It was bad enough that there were no steam huts anywhere besides the poles, that she had to continue with her day, but she did not want to then have to try to get blood out of her clothing. Katara just dressed and quickly brushed her hair out. She did not bother with braiding it, trying not to double over with the spasms in her inner muscles. Everything was the worst.

Both Zuko and Sokka were up and about. Zuko was dressed, hair combed, and alert, making the fire. Sokka was blearily blinking, probably having been caught in a conversation after waking to relieve himself. Suki and Toph were still in their tents. Aang was in clear view on Appa’s paw, but obviously sleeping.

“Good morning?” Sokka slurred sleepily in her direction.

“No, it is not,” she told him. “Make breakfast.” Sokka’s eyes went wide. Zuko looked confused.

“Yes, of course,” Sokka nodded emphatically. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like a nap? Is there something in particular you want for breakfast?”

“Food,” Katara growled.

“Yes, Katara, right away, Katara.” Sokka jumped to his feet and rushed to start on something for breakfast.

“My sympathies,” Zuko murmured casually. Katara hummed in response. Zuko was leaning up against the only boulder near the campfire. She laid a hand on his arm to push him to scoot over. Katara could feel the heat of his body through his clothes. She regarded him for a long moment. Zuko was looking back up at her in wary confusion. “Would you like me to scoot over?” he asked. Her hand was still on his arm.

“No!” Sokka said firmly. Katara turned at the interruption of her thoughts.

“I didn’t…”

“No. This is going to be just like that time with the tiger-seal, I know it. Zuko, just move.” Zuko started to get up to move. Katara tightened her grip on his arm. He froze, looking between her and brother.

“He’s warm.”

“He’s a fire-bender,” Sokka agreed. “But it’s still not a good idea. You do remember what happened with the tiger-seal? Was that a good outcome?” Sokka rubbed absently at his right shoulder with his left hand. Katara winced at the reminder he was still scarred. She looked back down at Zuko, who was frozen in an awkward squat.

“Sit down,” she told him. Zuko settled back down, crossing his legs. “Shut up, Sokka.” Katara settled herself in Zuko’s lap. She grabbed his hand and settled it low on her stomach. She sighed in relief. Already that felt so much better.

“Oh? Does it hurt?” Zuko seemed to realize was she was doing. His hand warmed slightly more and he applied a little pressure. “Does that help at all?”

“Just like the tiger-seal!” Sokka hissed, with a glare in their direction. Katara closed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at her brother.

“Yes, thank you,” she told Zuko.

“Good.” She felt him sigh in relief, leaning a bit further into the rock. Katara let her head fall back on his shoulder.

“How do you wake up so early?” she asked.

“I’m a fire-bender. The sun’s up.” Zuko shrugged. Fair enough. Katara had a very rough time trying to sleep when the moon was up. They had briefly discussed this before.

“Still too early.”

“I’m sure it is,” he agreed with a mild tone. “Sokka, is it supposed to bubble?” Katara opened her eyes. Her brother had clearly been glaring at them as he was jumping to attend to whatever he had put in the pot over the fire. Was that some sort of stew or was he just boiling whatever meat they had? Katara decided she didn’t care. She wasn’t making it.

Toph groaned loudly. Katara heard the snap of her tent melting back into the ground. There was a moment of quiet. Toph was making her way to the fire, Katara guessed. Sure enough, when she spoke, her voice was closer.

“Sweetness, what are you doing?” Toph asked.

“He’s warm.”

“Oh!” That was obviously enough information. “Sokka, what are you making for breakfast? Is it edible?”

“Of course it’ll be edible!” Sokka snapped back.

“Sokka,” Katara warned. She cracked one eye open.

“Sorry, Toph. I promise it’ll be edible.” Good. Katara closed her eye again. Toph made her way over and sat down beside them with a soft sound.

“Why is this a thing?” Toph whined, leaning over and letting her head fall into Katara’s lap. Katara ran her fingers through Toph’s hair, smoothing it flat. Toph had not even bothered to run a comb through it. She could understand, but Katara’s hair was too long to leave tangles in.

“Here,” Zuko said softly. His free arm moved. How sweet of him to offer his hand to Toph as well. After a moment Toph moaned softly.

“What’s going on over there?” Suki asked, her tone a little grumpy.

“He’s warm,” Katara explained.

“Oh?” Suki’s voice perked up.

“No! It’s bad enough I’ll have to pry Katara away. I’m plenty warm enough for you.” Katara opened her eyes to see her brother grabbing Suki around the waist with both hands.

“Of course you are,” Suki agreed easily. “I didn’t want to interrupt your cooking, Sokka.”

“Well, it’s almost done. I think. Katara, is it done?”

“I’m not moving.”

“I think it’s done,” Sokka peered at the food. “Yeah. It’s done. It’s brown enough, I think.”

“Uh, Sokka, is that supposed to be rice?” Suki asked.

“Did you say brown enough?” Katara’s eyes flew wide open. Her brother was dishing up scorched rice. “Oh La have mercy.” She scrunched her eyes closed.

“I think we’ve got some of that spicy fire flake sauce that Aang bought?” Sokka offered.

“No, Twinkle-toes finished it already,” Toph said with a soft groan. “How bad is it?”

“Scorched,” Katara explained.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Aang asked.

“Sokka scorched breakfast,” Suki said with a sad sigh.

“Well, why wasn’t Katara…” he trailed off. “What’s going on?” his voice was hard. “What’s all this?” Probably he meant her but Katara was comfortable and she would not be moved.

“Aang…” Sokka said warningly.

There was a brief pause. Then Aang made a sound of pain as the earth moved. Katara opened her eyes to see Toph had earth-bended him into the air. He landed on Appa. She hummed and closed her eyes.

“Sokka, feed me,” she ordered.

“Yes, Katara!” he agreed. A bowl was thrust into her hands only moments later. Katara opened her eyes and pulled her head up. The rice was scorched, but at least it was food. She tucked in with gusto. So did Toph and Suki. Zuko had set his bowl on Toph’s shoulder and was carefully trying not to drop any grains on Toph. Sokka was eating as well, though he kept pulling faces. They didn’t have the resources to waste the food. Aang was sulking, lying on Appa and glaring in their direction. Katara pretended not to notice.

“Sokka, what were you saying about a tiger-seal earlier?” Zuko asked. Apparently he had also noticed Aang and was less easily ignoring the glare. He started to move his hand. Katara grabbed his wrist, holding the warmth in place.

“Don’t get him started!” Katara chided.

“I was trying to remind my sister –“

“Just because you threw a tantrum about it!” she fumed.

“It wouldn’t give you back!”

“Yes, it did. I was perfectly fine!”

“It gave you back over a month later! You spent six weeks as a tiger-seal’s pup, Katara! And it tried to take off my arm!”

“You attacked it with a club! What were you expecting?”

“You to take the opportunity to wriggle free and come home!”

“I was perfectly fine.”

“I can’t even discuss this with you,” Sokka glared at her.

“How did you end up adopted by a tiger-seal?” Suki asked, brow deeply furrowed with confusion.

“Well, we do keep some, the tribe does, and they’re made of warm and fur. One of them had just whelped. So I just climbed in with the pups and she licked my hair and that was that.”

“And then the damn thing wouldn’t give Katara back and Katara hardly even cared,” Sokka hissed.

“I was perfectly fine. It’s not like I didn’t have food. We were all in an igloo.”

“Tiger-seal,” Sokka repeated, with emphasis. Katara ignored him. Zuko made a soft sound of confusion. Katara looked over her shoulder. His face was very close to hers. She jerked back a little.

“What?” Zuko asked.

“Didn’t you say something?” she asked. He had not, but he had made a noise like he was about to say something.

“No. Although I am a little confused as to why your brother brought the incident up.”

“He’s being ridiculous.” Katara turned to shoot a look at her brother.

“I am not ridiculous.”

“Alright then,” Zuko muttered. Katara shifted just slightly to try to relieve a twinge in her back and Zuko’s entire body froze. Well, apparently that was not a belt buckle or coin purse. A trifle awkward.

“Honestly?” she muttered, rolling her eyes.

“It’s a physiological reaction,” Zuko grumbled back.

“Katara?” Toph sounded piteous.

“Yes?”

“Are you sure we aren’t dying?”

“Yes, Toph.” Katara leaned down and kissed her hair.

“I’m not sure,” Toph muttered. Suki giggled. Sokka smiled smugly and kissed her cheek. Katara wondered if it was from whatever Sokka had said or Toph whining. She decided not to ask.

“This is really bad,” Zuko grumbled. Toph nodded emphatically.

“What?” Sokka demanded.

“I thought you promised that breakfast would be edible,” Katara teased. He frowned. Suki bit back a smile before Sokka could notice.

“It’s not that bad, is it?”

“You managed to burn rice,” Toph said. “I didn’t know that was possible.”

“I didn’t mean to.” Sokka sounded small and pitiful for a moment.

“Well, of course not,” Katara agreed. “You wouldn’t do that to me.”

Toph groaned loudly and sat up. Zuko and Katara both quickly grabbed the half-eaten bowl of rice before it toppled to the ground. “I’m just going to go drown myself. Did anyone need anything before I go?”

“Toph, don’t be silly,” Katara chided.

“I am perfectly serious.”

“Toph, stop, it’s not funny,” Suki agreed.

“What’s not funny?” Aang suddenly asked. Hadn’t he been over by Appa a moment ago? Katara was fairly certain he had been. Air benders and their flitting about.

“Nothing,” Toph grumbled.

“Okay…” Aang waited expectantly. “Katara, what’s for breakfast?”

“Sokka made breakfast.”

“I made rice. There’s still some in the pot.” Sokka did not try to get up. Of course, he was curled up with Suki. Zuko had accidentally made mention that when he had asked Sokka about their mother that Sokka seemed to be expecting someone else. So it was not entirely surprising that Sokka did not want to move. Aang frowned at Sokka too. Then he dished himself up a bowl.

“Ugh. Katara, why did you let Sokka cook? He burned the rice!”

“Aang!” Sokka yelped. Katara could feel Zuko frantically shaking his head behind her. She was just bleeding and a little more irritable. She wasn’t completely heartless. She really didn’t understand why they were so concerned about upsetting her. It was nice, of course, but not entirely understandable. Katara took a deep breath in and let it out.

“Am I supposed to always cook to prevent someone else from possibly burning the meal and thereby learning?”

“Uh…” Aang stared blankly at her.

“Tell her you’re sorry,” Sokka suggested.

“But I didn’t do anything!” Aang protested.

“Leave him be, Sokka. I’m certain he didn’t mean anything by it. I’m just better at these things, right?” Sokka blanched but kept his mouth shut.

“Exactly,” Aang agreed with a bright smile. “You’re just so good at cooking.” Apparently he did not remember Sokka having said something similar after handing Katara his ripped pants and getting them thrown at his head with the rip barely attended to. Of course, Aang never seemed to entirely grasp sarcasm. Katara just took another deep breath and slowly counted up to ten. Surely he would get the hint sooner or later.

“Aang, why don’t you just sit down and eat?” Zuko suggested. “Katara just wasn’t feeling up to cooking this morning.” Aang shot Zuko a venomous look, but he sat down and took a bite.

“Ugh. This is gross. Do we have any of that fire flake sauce?”

“No, you ate all of it,” Toph growled. Katara drew her fingers soothingly through Toph’s hair, quietly humming a lullaby at her.

“Did I really?” Aang looked sadly into his bowl. Toph tensed up. Aang yelped as he flew through the air again. The now empty bowl landed safely on the ground. Katara just kept humming. Poor Toph was already stubborn with her temper easily riled and she was not used to dealing with her moon cycle yet.

“What song is that?” Zuko asked.

“It’s a lullaby.”

“It sounds pretty.”

“It is pretty. It’s about Tui and La.”

“The moon and the sea, right?”

Katara hummed in agreement, letting her head fall back on Zuko’s shoulder. She sang a few lines, the refrain, about eternally swinging back and forth in harmony. Sokka joined in. Of course, they were the only ones in the entire group who understood their language, but Toph seemed to settle down again.

“It’s lovely,” Zuko said softly.

“Mama used to sing it during the days the sun won’t set to get us to sleep.”

“Did it work?”

“It helped. Sokka you mostly just had to tip him over into his furs. He’d fall asleep as soon as he was wrapped up.”

“I resemble that remark!” Sokka protested. Katara smiled. He still could fall asleep as soon as he was settled under furs or blankets. She had always had more difficulty. There was a loud clatter. Aang was standing in the middle of a circle of dirt, looking entirely too innocent.

“Perhaps I should keep him occupied. We do need to work on his fire bending,” Zuko suggested softly. Katara sighed softly as she nodded. She let Zuko up. He hurriedly stood and headed towards Aang. “Let’s start with some meditation.”

“Sokka, help me with the pot. Otherwise we’ll have burnt rice stuck to the bottom of our dinner.” Sokka carefully dislodged Suki before he jumped up to help.

“I’ll carry it for you! I really didn’t mean to burn the rice.”

“I know.” Katara took a deep breath. She had indulged herself enough. There was a war going on and she had no business wasting days and days simply because she was bleeding.

When Zuko suggested that they head to his family’s old vacation home on Ember Island that evening, where there were beds and walls and a market, Katara felt no guilt in immediately agreeing. He promised that neither his father nor Azula felt any attachment to the place and no one would notice them or think to search them out there. So Sokka and Aang agreed as well. Being able to sleep in a bed would surely make it easier to function during the day.


End file.
